Thursday, October 28, 2010

A few weeks ago Stacie and I were hiking in the Pulpit Rock Open Space and found this deer antler just lying on the ground. Antlers are living bone material that male deer grow/lose on an annual basis. Reindeer and caribou are the only species where the female also grows antlers. Deer use these protruding appendages for defense, to challenge for dominance, and foraging for food. Deer start shedding their antlers in the January/February timeframe and start re-growing them in the spring. They can grow back at a rate from a half inch to two inches per day. Stacie and I want to plan a "shed hunting" trip to Wyoming and Montana to search for moose forks that have fallen. What have you discarded that someone else has found as treasure?